


What Followed the Blight

by Derae



Series: Tales of a Cat and a Crow [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Coronations, F/M, Fluff, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon, Tags Are Hard, Weddings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:01:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23440597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Derae/pseuds/Derae
Summary: After the Blight, a certain Cat and Crow as well as a certain King and Queen have to get used to the changes happening in their societal roles...They'll figure it out.Probably.A sequel to That One Time Where I Died and Got Reborn in Another World... what was I thinking with that title?
Relationships: Alistair/Female Cousland (Dragon Age), Zevran Arainai/Female Tabris, Zevran Arainai/Female Warden
Series: Tales of a Cat and a Crow [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1530356
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	What Followed the Blight

_After settling a great dispute_   
_There must be remaining resentments_   
_How can this be considered good?_   
_Therefore the sage holds the left part of the contract_   
_But does not demand payment from the other person_   
_Those who have virtue hold the contract_   
_Those without virtue hold the collections_   
_The Heavenly Way has no favorites_   
_It constantly gives to the kind people._

She was being put to work after filling out a journal with her research and knowledge about Darkspawn, Blights, and Grey Wardens so that she could safely forget all of it. Part of her still couldn’t believe that now she had to actually retain information on where different countries were.

Because she was being made a noble…

The nail that sticks out gets hammered down… and she had done her best not to stand out around Humans as well. Avoided the Human her Mother had told her to avoid… and yet this still happened. 

Being destined for something greater than what she wanted sucks… actually, what was it that she wanted?

She wanted to have a normal life.

Get married, fall in love with her betrothed, be a cool Mom while caring for her people, become a cute Grandma, grow old with her husband and die of old age.

Well, she’ll still be able to accomplish most of that… though the group of people she’d be caring for just grew exponentially and now she’d rather be a refined and elegant Grandma. Elders who were refined and elegant had an amazing allure to them and she wanted that… What would Zevran look like when he’s older? 

She wanted to see it. 

She wanted to see Zevran as an older gentleman.

They were holding the wedding and coronation ceremony for Alistair and Elissa in a week. As the one who killed the Archdemon, she was required to show face, and during every public appearance she made, she wore the colors of the White Tiger. Apparently, her own wedding in two months would also be a pretty huge affair, which she was okay with, large happy events after a huge tragedy like a Blight was good for morale. Plus, if they played their cards right, they could also use it to rejuvenate the economy… she was being made a noble, so she needed to consider these things.

There was also the fact that she probably shouldn’t take Zevran’s last name considering that it was one bestowed upon him by the Crows. People who knew that would think that the Crows had taken over part of Ferelden when that was not the case. Though, Zevran Tabris sounded absolutely terrible.

Maybe a portmanteau?

Thinking about it, she should probably do some research about the Crows since Zevran seemed convinced they’d come after them.

She told Leliana her story two days ago, and then told them the reason why she wore the colors of the White Tiger…

Leliana was adding that to whatever ballad she was composing, deciding that she liked the idea greatly… she was _very_ curious about the world she came from and the various folklore and myth she knew… but then Leliana _loved_ stories, so that didn’t really come as a surprise.

…She’s helped organize so many reconstruction efforts that she could just throw her brain on autopilot as her mind wandered.

Some Humans still saw her race before whatever dumb ass title she was given but she wasn’t going to let that stop her, especially considering that Humans didn’t have the background that Elves did. They’d lived through so many riots that reconstructing Denerim was child’s play. Reports had told her that Gwaren was going to take a lot of work too. There were also various other villages that would need help with reconstruction, but the arls and banns associated with them were handling it.

She really wanted a nap on a nice roof… or in a crate about now, but her title said ‘no’ and it was making her sad. Especially considering that she was an eighteen-year-old Elven woman. She may have ended a Blight, but that didn’t change what she was, she was going to have to earn their respect and trust, since all they knew about her, was that she was the monster who ended a civil war and then killed an Archdemon.

After Loghain’s betrayal, they didn’t really put much care into the title ‘Hero of Ferelden’, if one of their most trusted heroes betrayed them like that, then who's to say that she won’t either?

Fucking hell… he’s making life hard for her even after death.

She still had to schedule a trip to Soldier’s Peak with the collected blood and talk to Avernus… come to think of it, she wondered where all her throwing knives went… she’d lost track of all of them following the Battle.

“Kalli… I’ve changed my mind,” Alistair commented walking into the study she’d been assigned for the moment.

“About?” she asked.

“You owing me one: we’re even,” Alistair replied, “I guess… I didn’t expect how hard this would be for you.”

“You’re Human, it’s fine,” she replied waving a sleeve around, “I’ve lived with this racial discrimination all my life… I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but someone’s gotta do it, yeah?”

“It’s _not_ fine,” Alistair argued, “here you are, working your ass off to rise to the occasion, and there they are dragging their feet just because you’re an Elf! In fact, you’ve _always_ been working your ass off in order to rise to the occasion while everyone else drags their feet and tries to kill each other!”

“It can’t be helped,” she sighed shaking her head, “Loghain was the Hero of Ferelden once, and yet he turned his back against them in their time of need. Lying to them as he lost himself to paranoia and hatred… of course they’re not going to put much stock into the title anymore. It’s a title that will be forever tainted by his treachery… gaining trust, respect, and loyalty is something that’ll take hard work, time, and patience. Large changes don’t come easily, and this is a pretty huge one.”

“They still shouldn’t be treating you like this!” Alistair protested, “after everything you’ve done for us…”

“Like I said, Alistair: it can’t be helped,” she sighed again, “discrimination like this was taught to them, and then nurtured throughout their entire lives… it takes time, patience, and understanding to change hearts.”

“You should take a break,” Elissa said.

“No can do,” she replied, “Humans see Elves as lazy.”

She suddenly felt herself being lifted out of her chair, and completely at the mercy of her beloved as he carried her in his arms.

“No, I think they are correct, _mi amore_ ,” Zevran replied, “a break will do us _wonders_.”

…‘Us’.

Right, Zevran was ferreting out future problems with the bannorn so that they could keep an eye on them.

The fact that Alistair _actually_ made Zevran his Spy-Master still shocked her.

Though they did have to move quickly since it’s only been a week since the Blight ended, and people were likely going to be moving against them soon. 

Mac Tir sympathizers who were disgruntled with how the Landsmeet panned out… now that the Blight was over, they’ll have time to focus on how upset they are.

She pretended to be asleep as he carefully carried her through the halls of the Royal Palace to the room they’d been given, deciding to go the ‘exhausted herself by working too hard’ route for sympathy points… though honestly, if Zevran didn’t routinely interrupt her, she would have probably actually collapsed from exhaustion.

The man was spoiling her into oblivion… and he seemed to be enjoying it as well.

It was making her fall in love with him more and more every day.

And he knew it too.

She heard the click of a lock before she felt her body sinking into the soft mattress of the bed… she still wasn’t used to living in luxury. It made her antsy, and honestly, she was still sorta expecting a lightning strike to the face… especially with the Dalish continuing to think that she’s Mythal returned to them from the Beyond.

But… none of that mattered right now, what other people wanted of her didn’t matter right now.

What mattered, was the man whose arms she was caged within. The first person to have ever made her feel like she mattered since her last wedding. Zevran didn’t want the Hero of Ferelden, or a future Teryna, or the ‘Child of Adaia Tabris’, or a Grey Warden. What Zevran wanted was her in her base iteration.

All Zevran wanted, was Kallian.

She raised her hand to trail her fingers along the lines of the tattoos on his face and he turned his head to press a kiss to her palm… something that had always felt alarmingly intimate.

 _“Ahh, watashi no saiai karasu,”_ she sighed as he pressed kisses to the textured skin of her arm, _“hontou ni, aishiteru yo.”_

“What does that mean?” Zevran asked.

“I really love you,” she answered.

“I see…” Zevran replied, _“anche io, ti amo.”_

I love you too.

She knew a little Italian, though she couldn’t pronounce a majority of the words… her mouth was too stupid for that. Just like how it was too stupid to speak Korean and Chinese.

She pulled him to her for a kiss, that he happily returned and deepened, his hands already working their magic on her body. Her own hands found their way into his hair, pulling him to her, wanting to be as close to him as possible. She could feel him hard against her thigh.

“So you know what that means, do you?” Zevran asked breaking their kiss voice husky with want and need.

“Mmmhmm,” she replied with a coy smile, “now fuck me like you love me.”

“With _pleasure,”_ Zevran grinned and she pulled him to her relishing the feel of how _full_ she felt as her body spread open to accommodate his.

He took her powerfully as if he needed to remind the both of them that she was his… of course she didn’t mind him being rough with her: he would be gentler if she did. Sometimes he caressed her sweetly, taking his time as he built up that coiling tension inside of her before sending her off that cliff.

…And he was always there to catch her, just like when she’d fallen from that tree near Redcliffe.

***

He sighed as he knocked on the door to the office he’d given his fellow former Gray Warden. The Wardens had strongly insisted that they speak with her, and said that they wouldn’t leave until they did so… he could practically see her scowl. She still held no respect for Wardens themselves. She respected what they did, and their sacrifice, but she did not respect their methods or ideology.

“Kalli,” he said after she’d granted him entrance to her office.

“Yeppers?” Kallian replied not even looking up from the documents in her hands.

“There are Wardens here who have… questions for you,” he sighed, “about how you survived.”

“Gross,” Kallian cringed finally looking up, “I thought you were gonna take care of that?”

“They’re being persistent,” he sighed.

“Indeed,” Clarel said stepping out from behind him, “don’t you think that if there’s a way for Wardens to survive the final blow to the Archdemon, that knowledge should be shared?”

“I don’t know how, or why I survived,” Kallian sighed, “so you are wasting both your time and mine.”

“Bullshit,” Clarel glared at her causing Diana to snarl making the Senior Warden back off slightly.

“Fine,” Kallian replied with another sigh, “I’ll tell you what I know.”

Kallian probably has a plan in mind… though he wished she would _tell him what her plans were_ rather than leaving him in the dark.

“Then let’s hear it,” Clarel replied.

“There are a number of variables which could have contributed to my survival, and fortunately, testing any of them is implausible in the foreseeable future,” Kallian replied, “the first variable is that I’m a woman, and to my knowledge, all who ended the Blights before me were male. Secondly, I ate the heart of a High Dragon because I was curious to see what would happen. Third, I touched the Sacred Ashes of Andraste. Fourth, both Alistair and I had a run-in with Flemeth, and there’s no telling what she may have done… take your pick, we can’t test any of these until the next Blight.”

…Did she actually eat the heart of a High Dragon? 

He wouldn’t put it past her considering the sheer amount she’s done to sate her own curiosity.

“Are you sure you’re not keeping anything from us?” Clarel asked sternly.

“For what reason would I neglect to inform you of how I survived? The lives of those who end future Blights is at stake,” Kallian asked just as sternly, “but you know as well as I do, that there are hundreds of years between Blights.”

“If we find out you’re lying—” Clarel began before being interrupted.

“We’ll all hopefully be long dead by that time,” Kallian replied waving a sleeve around dismissively, “unless you wish for there to be another Blight so soon after one has ended?”

“No,” Clarel sighed, “I will report to my superiors what you’ve said.”

“Have a good day,” Kallian replied as Clarel left.

After making sure that she was gone, he closed the door to Kallian’s office and sat in the chair opposite of her as she resumed reading through documents.

“Maker’s breath, I should have just let you handle that,” he sighed.

“Shoulda, coulda, woulda, but didn’t,” Kallian replied, “so much for you handling that, mm?”

“Did you really eat the High Dragon’s heart?” he asked.

“No, but I wanted to.”

“You wanted to?”

“In the world of my last life, it was believed that if you consumed the hearts of those you killed, their power would be added to your own, though that belief had long since faded into obscurity by the time I had been born.”

“That’s… gruesome.”

“Indeed,” Kallian replied, “it was eventually considered barbaric, and outlawed… again, all long before I was born.”

“Did it really give people extra power?”

“Who knows,” Kallian shrugged.

***

He was not surprised that it took him truly falling in love to understand why sex was often referred to as ‘making love’… having sex with the person you loved was a far more satisfying experience… Perhaps he did not truly love Rinna as he had once thought. Though considering that he had once thought himself incapable of the emotion, that didn’t come as a surprise.

Having her be the first and last person he saw every day was a nice feeling as well, and knowing that he was the first and last person she saw was also rather satisfying.

Not only that… but every morning part of him was afraid that he’d wake up and find out that it was all just a dream and that she had found her death along with the Archdemon.

And that… he wasn’t sure he would be able to survive that.

No, he _knew_ he wouldn’t be able to have survived that.

“What’re you so pensive about?” Kallian asked, her face popping up into his view from below as he sat on their bed.

“You,” he replied grasping strands of scarlet hair to press to his lips.

No matter how often he does things like this, they always seem to fluster her… this woman whose soul had come to him from another world had captured him so utterly and completely. 

“Zevran,” Kallian said wryly as he wrapped her up in an embrace pulling her to him so that his head rested against her abdomen, “we’ve got busy, and we _just_ got dressed.”

“I know,” he replied releasing her and standing up to pull her in for a kiss making sure not to fan the flames of lust.

He just needed to know that she was here. 

That she was alive, that she wasn’t running away from him.

“Are you ready now?” Kallian asked as he pulled away from her.

“ _Si, amore_ ,” he replied and they finally left their room, his Heart automatically linking her arm with his.

He had to do his job properly.

If he misses someone, they could harm her or make her already difficult job more difficult… and she had a tendency to overwork herself. 

A fact that has been confirmed by her family.

He’s killed enough nobles to know how heartless they can be, how scheming and ruthless they are, and how far they would go to get their way.

His Heart had an idea, but she didn’t have personal experience with it, whereas he did. He’s skulked around in their shadows, he’s watched them and eliminated them. Him taking care of them would take a load off of her shoulders so that she can focus on giving their people a better life and finding a cure for the Calling.

_“Kallian doesn’t need someone who feels that it’s their duty to protect her, what she needs is someone who can stand at her side as an equal. Someone who can protect her heart.”_

It wasn’t his duty to protect her, but it _was_ his duty to support her… and stop her from doing anything stupid and reckless. Like asking someone to throw her across a gap or running off straight into danger on her own. She had a habit of putting herself in danger for fun. Though, he also enjoyed the fun that came with danger…

Let the Crows come, he’ll laugh and mock them as she crushes their self-confidence and reduces them to trash… she was good at that… and, admittedly, it was arousing to watch.

***

In a few weeks, he was going to not only be crowned as King but was also getting married… on the same day.

Two incredibly crazy-sounding events were happening on the same day… and he was honestly more terrified of the latter. Kallian’s wedding had ended in bloodshed and her getting recruited into the Wardens against her will and Oghren… they killed his wife because she went crazy.

Of course, both of them were now happily seeing new people, their marriages still went terribly.

Though, saying that of Kallian’s marriage was unfair— it wasn’t her fault Vaughan showed up in the Alienage and ruined everything.

And he supposed it wasn’t Oghren’s fault his wife was crazy— he had been in love with Felsi, not Branka.

“Getting cold feet?” Kallian asked, “pre-wedding jitters?”

“Were you this nervous too?” he asked.

“Oh yeah,” Kallian replied, “and my Father told me that he was about ready to hunt for the Dalish before his, too… Soris was a mess as well.”

“Great…” he sighed.

“But then here’s the thing,” Kallian added, “we hadn’t actually met our fiances until like… a few hours before the wedding, mya? So we had no real clue who we were getting married too. Would we get along as well as we did in letters? Or would we not? Would we be married to someone nice? Or shrewd? It was a complete mystery.”

“And that’s normal to you?” he asked incredulously.

“Of course it is,” Kallian replied waving a sleeve around, “we are Elves that live in an Alienage… it’s tradition.”

“How are you feeling about it, Zevran?” he asked.

“Well… I am not quite sure how to put it,” Zevran replied thoughtfully, “this is an extremely new experience so I am not sure what to feel.”

“You can be honest and say that you’re terrified,” Kallian laughed, “I know how you were raised: I know this is so far out of how you expected your life to go that you’re not really sure what’s going on anymore.”

“Actually, I think this feeling is closer to that of excitement than anything,” Zevran replied, “no matter how long I live or how far I travel, I will never find another woman like you. Nor will I ever happen upon another chance such as this… so why not seize upon it?”

“Whoaaaa,” Kallian replied covering her mouth in surprise, “I’m in shock.”

“I regret asking you,” he groaned, “so, how are you feeling, Kalli?”

“Mmm… I’m a bit worried,” Kallian admitted, “and apprehensive, yes.”

“You are?” Zevran asked in shock.

“Considering how my last wedding went?” Kallian asked wryly in return, “how could I not be?”

It hurt to see that the echoes of her last wedding still plagued her… Kallian was literally the strongest woman he knew, and yet she was still plagued by the actions of one man…

“We won’t let that happen again,” he replied.

“Of course it won’t, I’ll massacre anyone who even tries,” Kallian replied brightly, “I’ve learned my lesson: I just need to kill them where they stand.”

Even if they deserved it… he couldn’t help but pity anyone who earns her wrath… she would brutalize them and crush them into nothing… he’s seen it before, and it was not pretty.

In fact, it was terrifying.

***

He bolted upright in a cold sweat, a hand clutching at his chest as he wildly looked around the room before his eyes finally landed on the scarlet haired woman sleeping next to him. Before he even knew what he was doing his hands were grasping at her flesh, waking her up as he pulled her under him.

She opened her mouth —likely to question him— but he didn’t even wait until she made a sound before claiming her lips, a hand sliding behind her head to pull her closer to him as his other hand began moving down her body. His mouth finally left hers to place an open-mouthed kiss above her heart, sucking hard enough to leave a mark before returning to her lips. It didn’t take him long to have her moaning and writhing in pleasure as he tested her entrance with a finger, seeking out that special bundle of nerves inside of her. He settled himself between her legs and entered her as she unraveled beneath him quickly setting a punishing pace not letting her come down from her high, feeling the pain of her nails digging into his back.

He needed it to hurt.

He needed it to be painful.

He needed a reminder that this wasn’t simply a dream, and that she was truly still alive and here with him.

That she didn’t find her end with the Archdemon.

He came thrusting as deeply inside of her as he possibly could finally allowing her to ride out her orgasm to the end.

Half-lidded emerald eyes tiredly gazed up at him as she finally loosened her grip on him. She said nothing as he moved to gently clean them both up, simply pulling him to her in an embrace as sleep reclaimed her… he couldn’t help but feel guilty for waking her up, she was busy, and people were always coming to her for answers or instruction. He buried his face into the junction of her neck and shoulder as he fell back asleep.

***

She couldn’t decide whether she’d been woken up for an incredibly intense round of sex in the middle of the night or if it’d just been an alarmingly lewd dream. If it were the latter, she would be concerned considering that there was no way in hell she was sexually frustrated, and if it were the former, she’d still be concerned because why was she woken up in the middle of the night for sex? Was _he_ sexually frustrated? How could that be? They have sex at least twice a day and most days even more than that!

…Or was it for another reason?

And as she was still trapped in Zevran’s embrace as he continued to sleep, she couldn’t ask him… actually, maybe she shouldn’t ask him, especially if it had been the latter.

Resisting the urge to sigh, she lifted a hand to gently run her fingers through his hair. She felt his lips press against her skin before her eyes met his.

“Morning, love,” she said feeling a wry smile play on her lips.

“Mm… yes, morning,” Zevran replied with a smirk rolling them so that she was beneath him, “now, shall we make it a _good_ morning?”

“And how would you propose we do that?” she asked with a coy smile.

“I’m sure you know what I have in mind,” Zevran with a lascivious grin.

“Perhaps,” she replied as she moved her head to grant him more access to her neck.

It was rare for him to take his time with her, he always seemed to want to carve his very existence into her body, mind, and soul… when he took her carefully like this, it was like he was gently etching himself onto her heart. Honestly, she was fine with whichever: she could adapt. It didn’t matter if it were hard and fast, or slow like this.

She just loved him.

She matched his tenderness in her own caresses catching sight of the hickey on her chest that he’d left on her in the middle of the night, though the revelation immediately flew from her head as he positioned himself. His movements were slow and purposeful, and she matched them. He leaned forward to claim her lips as her fingers danced across his back as his hands caressed the curves of her body.

…As nice as it was, this was beginning to not be enough.

And she felt her greedier side kick in as she flipped them overtaking him and savoring his expression as she did so.

“Sorry, love,” she said leaning down to nip at his ear, “but I need more now.”

“All you had to do was ask, Kallian,” Zevran grinned flipping them back over pinning both of her hands above her head, his other hand moving down her body.

Ah, he wanted her at his mercy.

She put up a token resistance, but that got stopped as he began to pound into her and her legs snapped around him her hips rising to meet his only to get pushed back down into the bed as she moaned and writhed beneath him. His grip on her wrists hampered her movements, and she hated that part of her liked it. She felt his other hand move to the small of her back as he pulled her closer to him and her back arched and her toes curled as her body got rocked with an intense orgasm as she felt warmth spread throughout her.

When she finally managed to reacquire some small amount of her wits, she realized his face was buried in the junction between her neck and shoulder and she could feel his breath hot and heavy, making her body shudder involuntarily still sensitive from her orgasm. He must have let go of her wrists at some point because it took her a bit, but she eventually noticed that her arms were wrapped around him.

“Don’t… breathe… on my neck… jerk,” she murmured and she felt him chuckle against her skin.

“I’m sorry,” Zevran sighed moving away from her.

“You’d better be,” she replied, “you _know_ my neck is sensitive.”

“No… not for that… for—”

“Waking me up in the middle of the night for sex?” she raised a brow tapping her chest where he’d marked her, “I’m fairly certain I’m going to end up pregnant sooner, rather than later, you know?”

“I wouldn’t mind that.”

“So? Why did you wake me up in the middle of the night for sex?” she asked, “are you somehow sexually frustrated? Because if so, we’re going to have to discuss this.”

“No— no, that is not it,” Zevran replied struggling for a bit, “I— I just— I just…”

“I’m not angry,” she sighed after he trailed off, “in fact, part of me thought I’d dreamt the entire thing… I was a bit worried about that…”

“I— Kallian, please… never leave me,” Zevran said finally, “I can’t… I can’t lose you.”

That was why he had seemed so desperate…

“I know.”

“Do you now?”

“‘I love you so much, that the mere thought of not having you at my side is enough to make me feel as though my very soul is being torn apart’,” she recounted, “your _exact_ words… I’d like to think I’m not so cruel as to leave you after accepting that kind of confession, mya.”

“Well… you are a rather cruel woman,” Zevran grinned at her as he pushed her down, “as I believe I’ve told you many times.”

“Indeed, you have,” she replied reaching up to caress the side of his face, “but we’ve got—”

“Later,” Zevran replied and she felt his breath on her ear.

“But everyone—”

“Everyone can wait… for now, you belong to me.”

“Don’t I always belong to you?” she asked tapping the mark he left on her chest, “you stole my heart, after all.”

He’s had her heart since long before she had been pinned beneath him in Valendrian’s house. But she had just desperately, desperately, _desperately_ not wanted to acknowledge it. Part of her had been ashamed of herself, she had loved Nelaros only a few months prior, and yet there she was, falling in love with another man. Granted, that by that point, she had known Zevran longer and had also actually been physically around him ever since they’d met. Something that she hadn’t been able to experience with Nelaros.

No one would or could blame her for falling in love with another person, but she had fought it none-the-less.

“I thought we had things to do?”

“Well, they can wait, hm?”

“Ahhh _mi bella gattina,”_ Zevran grinned, “you will be the death of me.”

“I’m alright with that.”

“As am I.”

***

She couldn’t help but be amazed that Kallian and Zevran got _anything_ done, much less their entire workloads with how often the two seemed to be going at it… it was both of their faults, she knew, Zevran’s for instigating it, and Kallian’s for not wanting to say ‘no’. The woman was more than capable of it when she wanted too.

The problem was that she needed to want to.

And unfortunately, she seemed far too content with merely getting caught up in Zevran’s whims. Though in their defense: Zevran got just as caught up in her whims as she did with his.

Meanwhile, both her and Alistair were getting overwhelmed with work and when Kallian offered to help, it only pissed both of them off. Kallian’s workload wasn’t anything even _remotely_ negligible and yet she still got everything done despite being an absolute _slave_ to her desires.

“Honestly,” Wynne sighed voicing her thoughts, “how do those two get anything done?”

“Kalli’s a master at multi-tasking,” Alistair answered, “and can work on multiple documents at a time, and Zevran… I’m not actually sure how he does it, come to think of it.”

“But Kalli’s ability to work quickly actually has an incredible drawback,” Shianni commented, “in that if she’s not careful she’ll end up with her head shoved in a bucket of water screaming out of stress, or she’ll end up on the floor because she doesn’t want to think anymore.”

“Why in a bucket of water?” Leliana asked.

“So she doesn’t bother anyone while she’s losing her mind screaming,” Soris answered.

“Well, at least Zevran seems to be managing her stress well,” she commented.

“That’s what surprises me about their relationship the most,” Alistair replied, “the fact that he takes really good care of her.”

“He has always taken good care of her,” Leliana pointed out, “in fact, he has always been more attentive to her needs than she has.”

“It’s not like that’s much of an accomplishment,” Shianni replied, “she’s terrible at taking care of herself.”

“Hmmm?” Kallian hummed appearing behind Shianni, “gossiping about me behind my back, are we?”

“Who _isn’t_ gossiping about you behind your back?” Shianni asked in return.

“So I did a thing, so what?” Kallian shrugged waving a sleeve around.

“You ended the Blight!” Shianni retorted.

“Pshaaaaww, so I killed a thing, so what?” Kallian sighed, “get over it.”

“YOU DON’T GET TO SAY THAT WHEN THE THING YOU KILLED IS THE ARCHDEMON!” Shianni roared causing Kallian to lean away from her with her face scrunched into a wince.

“I GET TO SAY WHATEVER I WANT ABOUT IT BECAUSE I’M THE ONE WHO DID THE THING!” Kallian retorted.

“It’s been a while since I’ve last heard Shianni and Kalli in a shouting match like this,” Soris commented watching the two pull at each other's cheeks, “I didn’t think it’d be something I’d miss…”

“Well, you did think I was dead for a year,” Kallian pointed out before handing documents and a journal over to Alistair, “by the way, here are the documents you wanted and also a copy of the journal I made detailing the results of my research into Darkspawn and the Blight.”

“How did you finish all of that so quickly?” she asked.

“The faster I finish things, the sooner I get to play,” Kallian replied waving a sleeve around, already leaving with a pep in her step, “the sooner I get to play, the longer I get to play.”

“…Kallian is almost child-like in her reasonings, isn’t she?” Wynne sighed.

“She’s _always_ been like that,” Shianni replied dryly, “to her, simple is best.”

“It’s good to see that some things haven’t changed,” Soris agreed, “considering how much has changed.”

“Wait… what does she mean by ‘play’?” Alistair asked.

“She’s either taking a nap, reading a book, messing around with Zevran,” Shianni answered, “or setting up a prank… and there’s nothing we can do to stop her.”

Considering that not even an Archdemon could stop her… she hoped she wasn’t setting up a prank.


End file.
